Louisa’s Place apartment, Berlin

The living area of our apartment.

We stayed for five nights in Berlin at Louisa’s Place (Kurfürstendamm 160, 10709 Berlin, GERMANY; phone +49 [0] 30 6 31 03-0 or fax 03-100, www.louisas-place.de) at the end of March ’07 and couldn’t have been more pleased.

This is one of those rare finds — an upscale and classy yet very friendly hotel. The light and airy suites are extremely spacious and simply stunning, with high ceilings, beautiful wood floors, elegant window treatments and pleasing artwork on the walls.

Everything is first class. The kitchen has Bosch and Krupps appliances, the bedding is luxurious and the shower has power. You think “Wow” every time you walk into the suite, and it just feels good to be there. The pool/spa area, which we only admired but did not use, is also gorgeous.

Our bedroom at Louisa’s Place apartment — Berlin. Photos: Frazier

The employees at Louisa’s Place all were top-notch. We never failed to receive a smile and friendly greeting when we came and went. The desk in the lobby appeared to be staffed at all hours, and everyone was warm, friendly and responsive to our queries.

They called to find out restaurant hours for us; they checked a manual to figure out the correct postage for an oversized postcard and then sold us the stamps, and they arranged an early-morning taxi for us. We have rarely experienced better service in a hotel.

We also thought the location to be perfect, on the quiet (western) end of the famous Ku’damm. The Adenauerplatz U-bahn station was less than a block away, and Tegel airport was just about a 15-minute cab ride away. A good Internet café was less than a block from the hotel (it had far lower rates than the hotel did).

The pool area at Louisa’s Place.

There were numerous restaurants within a 5-minute walk. Two of our favorites were Kartoffel Pfanne, right across the street on Eisenzahnstrasse (ask for Henk, a super waiter), and Café Fraziskushof Stuben, just up Wilmersdorferstrasse. Each had a local neighborhood feel, not a touristy feel, with excellent food and very reasonable prices.

Just about everything at Louisa’s Place was perfect, and we would absolutely stay there again. For a junior suite, the off-season rack rate was €135-€155 ($188-$212) and the in-season rate, €275 ($377). However, we purchased an airfare/hotel package deal on Orbitz for about $850 per person.

JEAN FRAZIER

Scarborough, ME